Series Rings, and Familiar Ring, at Stadium

Andy Pettitte, who pitched the final game of 2009 at Yankee Stadium, won the first game of 2010 there, shutting out the Angels on five hits over six innings. Credit
Barton Silverman/The New York Times

The final game at Yankee Stadium last season ended with Mariano Rivera saving a victory for Andy Pettitte. The Yankees returned on Tuesday to collect their championship rings, and three hours later Rivera secured another win for Pettitte. The Yankees are trying to move past their accomplishments from 2009, but days like this recall the glory they hope to sustain.

Behind six shutout innings from Pettitte and home runs by Derek Jeter and Nick Johnson, the Yankees raced to a big lead against the Los Angeles Angels. They continued their seamless transition between Game 6 of the World Series and Game 7 of the regular season by turning to Rivera to finish off a 7-5 victory. Among them, Pettitte, Rivera and Jeter have 15 rings. The other player with five, Jorge Posada, added three hits and drove in a run.

“Everyone talks about how long we’ve been here,” Jeter said. “In our minds, it’s like we’re just little kids. We just want to come out here and contribute and be consistent.”

The Yankees did not expect to use Rivera, but Manager Joe Girardi summoned him in the ninth after Dave Robertson surrendered a one-out grand slam to Bobby Abreu. On a day the Yankees celebrated their past, Rivera silenced Hideki Matsui, the most valuable player of last year’s World Series, to clinch their third straight win.

In his return to the Bronx, Matsui received the longest and loudest reception during the pregame ring ceremony, but for the first time in eight years, Yankees fans did not mind that he went 0 for 5. By the end of the first inning, the crowd of 49,293, the largest to see a regular-season game at the new ballpark, was cheering for Johnson, Matsui’s replacement at designated hitter, who homered deep into the seats in right-center field.

Photo

Nick Johnson, the new D.H., homered in the first inning.Credit
Josh Haner/The New York Times

For many players, watching Matsui receive his ring was the second best part of their day. Gene Monahan, the beloved longtime trainer who missed spring training because of an undisclosed illness, surpassed that. During the ceremony, Monahan was called forward first, and the Yankees honored him by having him stand alone with his ring by first base.

“Knowing what he’s going through, it was really emotional,” said Girardi, who fought back tears after the game as he spoke about Monahan. “We’re all thrilled to see him here.”

The very first ring, though, was presented about 20 minutes before the ceremony began, when Jeter and Girardi visited the suite of the principal owner George Steinbrenner. There, Steinbrenner took off his 2000 World Series ring to make room on his finger for the new one, crafted from white gold and featuring a blue stone beneath a diamond-embossed Yankees logo. “Quite frankly,” said his son Hal, the managing general partner, “I think he was almost speechless.”

The crowd urged him to say something when, as Frank Sinatra’s
“My Way”
cascaded over the loudspeakers, Steinbrenner was shown on the video screen before the Yankees batted in the third inning. A thunderous ovation followed, but the cameras may have panned away a few seconds early. They could not catch his reaction as Jeter, leading off, crunched an opposite-field homer against Angels starter Ervin Santana into the Yankees’ bullpen, extending the lead to 2-0.

The Angels’ 2009 season also ended at Yankee Stadium, when they lost the American League Championship Series in six games. They opted not to re-sign their ace, John Lackey; their designated hitter, Vladimir Guerrero; or their speedy leadoff hitter, Chone Figgins. But, Girardi said, “I think they added a very good D.H. just from the little bit that I’ve seen from him.”

Matsui signed with the Angels in December, about six weeks after he homered and drove in six runs in the Yankees’ Series-clinching victory. He was the final player to receive his ring, though the genuine version was not in the box. Jeter slipped in a spring training souvenir ring, and during pregame introductions Girardi gave the real one to Matsui. Afterward, the Yankees crowded around Matsui and hugged him.

Photo

Alex Rodriguez admiring his ring. “I’m going to wear it every day,” he said. Credit
Richard Perry/The New York Times

With a new World Series flag joining 26 others on the stadium roof, the Game 6 victory was featured prominently in a video montage that preceded the ceremony. The Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra, who won a combined 16 titles, joined Girardi in passing out the rings. Jerry Hairston Jr., who now plays for the Padres, took a red-eye flight after his game Monday in San Diego to take part in the ceremony and said, “If I had to take a 20-hour flight, I was going to come out here.” Posada hugged everyone in line, and Alex Rodriguez reveled after accepting his ring, thrusting the box in the air.

“I know a lot of guys are talking about they’re not going to wear it because they’re too cool,” said Rodriguez, who drove in two runs with a sixth-inning single. “I’m going to wear it every day. Heck, if they let me wear it to third today, I would have done that.”

Like most, if not all, starting pitchers, Pettitte is a slave to his routine, and the pomp and pageantry briefly interrupted his preparation.

“I almost felt more pressure than a World Series game,” said Pettitte, adding, “This was just a special day for our organization, for the fans and for our team. You want to win it, so you’re definitely putting a lot of pressure on yourself out there to give us a good start.”

Pettitte grinded through a tough lineup by making crucial pitches when needed, escaping a two-on, no-out jam in the fifth by retiring the top three hitters in the Angels’ order. He pumped his first after inducing an inning-ending groundout from Torii Hunter, a rare display of emotion that he topped the next inning.

With runners on first and third and Pettitte struggling to keep the ball down, he fell behind, 3-1, to Howie Kendrick. He fired a two-seamer that Kendrick bounced toward Jeter, and after the ensuing double play, Pettitte turned and pointed at Jeter as they jogged off the field.

“They all played big roles last year, as well,” Girardi said. "Andy won the last game at the Stadium last year and won the first one this year — pretty fitting.”

A version of this article appears in print on April 14, 2010, on page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: Getting Rings, Then Getting to Work. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe